Solo
from $225/mo
One person, a few income streams
An accounting studio for creatives & restaurants · Westmark
You make the work. We carry the one.
Monthly books, taxes and payroll for illustrators, designers, bands, bakers and bistros. One flat fee, set before we start, and a person who knows the difference between a royalty and a tip pool.
- Mural commission4,250.00
- Print sales1,875.50
- Weekend workshop960.00
Total7,085.50
carried, so you don’t have to
- Illustrators
- Ceramicists
- Bistros
- Bands
- Photographers
- Bakeries
- Designers
- Wine bars
- Writers
- Food trucks
- Tattoo studios
- Noodle bars
No. 1
Two kinds of books.
Creatives and restaurants look nothing alike, until you open the books: lumpy income, small margins, and a lot of money that isn’t quite yours yet. We only do these two, so we do them well.
For artists, designers, makers, musicians and writers: income that arrives in lumps, and a tax bill that shouldn’t.
Book a call about your work- 1.1
Every income stream, named
Commissions, licensing, royalties, grants, teaching and sales, each on its own line so you can see which ones pay.
- 1.2
A tax jar, filled monthly
We tell you what to move aside each month, sized to what you actually earned, and remind you before each estimated payment.
- 1.3
Gear, studio and travel
Cameras, kilns, instruments, studio rent and the tour van, recorded properly and depreciated where it makes sense.
- 1.4
Grants and residencies
What’s taxable, what isn’t, and the reports funders ask for, kept alongside the books instead of in a separate panic.
- Royalties
- Advances
- Commissions
- Licensing
- Grants
- Residencies
- Merch
- Studio rent
- Gear
- 1099s
- Sales tax on prints
- Self-employment tax
For cafés, bistros, bakeries, bars and food trucks: thin margins, cash every day, and numbers you need by Monday, not by April.
Book a call about your restaurant- 2.1
Prime cost, every week
Food, drink and labor as a share of sales, in a one-page flash report on Monday morning, compared with the week before.
- 2.2
Tips, done right
Card tips, cash tips and the pool, matched to payroll so your team is paid correctly and the reports agree.
- 2.3
Sales tax, on time
Filed from your point-of-sale reports, with delivery-app payouts and fees reconciled so the numbers agree.
- 2.4
The second location question
When you’re ready to think about it, we model it with your numbers: the build-out, the ramp and what it means for cash.
- Prime cost
- Tip pools
- Food cost
- Comps
- Spoilage
- Delivery-app payouts
- Card fees
- Sales tax
- Payroll
- Inventory counts
- Gift cards
- Build-outs
The studio in numbers
12
monthly closes a year, each by the 12th
4
estimated-tax reminders, a week before each date
1
flat monthly fee, set at the intro call
0
hourly invoices, ever
No. 2
A year in the ledger.
Scroll through twelve months with a sample client: a two-person illustration studio. The ledger writes itself as you go. Every number is invented; the rhythm is real.
January
Receipts in, 1099s out.
We close December, send the forms you owe to the people you paid, and set this year’s monthly tax-jar amount from last year’s numbers.
February
A slow month, on purpose.
Commissions are quiet. The jar still gets its share, and we gather what the return will need while nobody is in a hurry.
March
The return, drafted early.
Last year’s return is prepared and walked through on a call. You sign when you understand it, not before.
April
Filed, and the first estimate paid.
The return goes in, and the first quarterly estimate comes out of the jar instead of out of rent.
May
A big licensing check.
A lump arrives. We move a bigger slice to the jar the same week, so June doesn’t notice.
June
Second estimate, from the jar.
Paid on time, reminded a week before. Then a mid-year look: is the jar on track for the year you’re actually having?
July to August
A new camera, recorded properly.
Gear bought, logged and depreciated. The summer fair’s print sales and the sales tax that comes with them, filed.
September
Third estimate.
Out of the jar again. By now the monthly rhythm takes ten minutes of your time.
October to November
Year-end planning.
A call about the decisions that still count this year: equipment, a retirement contribution, when to send that last invoice.
December
Closed. Carried. Done.
The books close, the jar is ready for January’s estimate, and next year starts with a plan instead of a shoebox.
No. 3
Three people, one studio.
Upstairs at 61 Tannery Lane, between a letterpress shop and a bakery that opens at six. You’ll know all three of us by name, and the one who does your books answers your email.
-
Noor
Founder · CPA
Taxes, planning and the year-end calls. Spent her twenties doing the books for her family’s bakery before she did anyone else’s.
-
Teddy
Bookkeeper · creatives
Monthly books for the studios, the bands and the freelancers. Knows what a mechanical royalty statement looks like, and how to read one.
-
Ines
Bookkeeper · restaurants
Flash reports, tip pools and sales tax for the kitchens. Ran a dining room floor for six years, so Friday-night math doesn’t scare her.
We work inside your own QuickBooks Online or Xero, alongside your Square or Toast reports and Gusto payroll. Your books stay yours.
No. 4
Flat fees, in ink.
One monthly fee, set at the intro call from how your business actually runs. It changes only when your business does, and you hear it from us first.
Studio
from $475/mo
A small studio with payroll
Year-end only
from $1,400/yr
Books caught up and the return, once a year
Fees cover the work listed. Catch-up on books that are behind is quoted once, separately, before we start. We don’t sell investments or give investment advice.
No. 5
Questions, answered.
I’m a year behind. Is that a problem?
It’s common, and it’s where most of our clients start. We quote the catch-up once, do it month by month, and then the flat fee begins. If a return is late, we’ll tell you what that means and what to file first.
Do I have to switch software?
Usually not. We work inside QuickBooks Online or Xero, in your own account. If you’re on a spreadsheet, we’ll set one up with you and you’ll own it.
Will you lower my taxes?
We won’t promise a number, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What we do is make sure your return reflects what you really spent on your work, and that big decisions are planned before the year ends instead of discovered after.
Do you run payroll for my restaurant?
We run it in Gusto or work alongside the payroll provider you already use, and we match tips and hours to your point-of-sale reports every pay period.
What happens on the intro call?
Twenty minutes by video or phone. You tell us what you make or serve and how money comes in; we tell you which plan fits and the flat fee, in writing, the same day. No charge, no follow-up sequence.
No. 6
Book an intro call.
Twenty minutes, by video or phone, with Noor. Pick a time; we’ll send the link.
- Cost
- Nothing
- You’ll leave with
- A plan and a flat fee, in writing, the same day
- Bring
- A rough idea of your yearly income, and how far behind the books are
Carry the One
61 Tannery Lane · Studio 4
Intro call, booked.
- Day
- Wednesday, Oct 14
- Time
- 10:30 am
- With
- Noor
- For
- You
- Ref.
- C1-0000
Total$0.00
The link goes to your email. This is a sample site, so nothing was sent.